Socket for pin base lamps and tubes



06L -v N. CHIREILSTEIIN ,7

SOCKET PIN BASE LAMPS ANQ TUBES Filed June 14, 1940 iihet-tofFiga.

Patented Oct. 7, 1941 UNITED STATES I PATENT 1 OFFICE 2,257,786 SOCKET FOR. PIN BASE LAMPS AND .TUBES 4 Nathan Chirelstein, Chicago, ni. Application June 14, 1940', Serial No. 340,4 13 4 1 Claim. (o1. na 32s) The invention herein disclosed relates to sockets for holding electric lamps or tubes having pin terminals, such as the "fluorescent lamps now in use.

Special objects of the invention are to provide a socket which will require the engagement of the terminal pins therein in a certain manner or order and in a way which will place no unusual strain on the pins and will, when the pins are fully engaged, lock them firmly in such relation to overcome and prevent any possibility of the,

supported lamp or tube from loosening or dropping out of the socket, as has resulted 'in prior socket constructions.

Other desirable objects and the novel features of the invention by.which the objects are attained are set forth and will appear in the following specification.

The drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification illustrates several of the possiblesforms the invention may take, but it will be understood that structure may be furthermodified and changed, all within the true scope of the invention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

Fig. .1 is a side elevation of one'of the sockets,

partly broken away and indicating in section how the tubeis entered first to engage only one of the terminal pins.

Fig. la is a front end view of the socket.

Fig. 2 is a broken detail showing how after engagement of one n with one socket terminal, the tube is rotated about that pin as a center to bring the second pin into engagement with the second socket contact.

.Fig. 3 is a like view showing the tube fully rotated to bring the second pininto fully engaged relation and in which interlocked position the pins are so firmly held that the tube can not be pulled straight out but must be released one. pin at -a time, in the reverse order of the engaging operation.

Fig. 4 is a broken cross-sectional detail as on Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are broken and part sectional details of diife'rent modified forms of.the invention.- 1

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are broken part sectional views illustrating structure and operation of another modification. t

Fig. 1 illustrates one of the two companion sockets for holding the ends of a fluorescent lamp tube and in this view, it will be seen that the socket consists of a suitable insulatingbase l0, formed at the front with a groove ll,'open to the inside face of the base to receive'the pins of the tube and springscontacts l2, ii, at the back of said-open sided groove, having hook portions 14, to engage about and secure the pins.

The spring contacts I2, {3, are shown ,as-secured at the back of the socket base at' l5, as having wiring terminals 46, and as disposed atopposite' sides of an; intermediate insulating paritition ll, and free to yieldoutwardly or awayfrom each other in. the

site sides of said partition. i.

At the front, beyond the pin holding hooks l4, the spring contacts are shown ashaving wedge or-cam extensions I8, the free endsof which extend behind the'side-edges 20,-of the pin receiving groove into the front ends ,of the chambers- |9 The inward bends 2 of the contact springs at the bases of the hook portions may engage opposite sides of the partition I1, to serve as stops for positioning the springs? about as shown in Fig. 1,

the pins, it is not practical to'remove theftubef with the cam portions l8, slightly spaced from the parallel opposite sides'of the extended vfront end portion of the partition.

To illustrate the 2 novel methodof engaging and interlocking the tube in the socket, the base' of a tube is represented by thecircle 22, and the.

terminal pins or prongs at 23, 24.

Fig. 1 shows how; the tube is engaged in the that contact open until the hook it receives the pin as in Fig. 3. During this rotational etiort, the first-engaged pin 23 has a bearing'support on the insulating wall 20, and in the final position, Fig. 3, the edges or insulating. walls 20 may both brace and support the pins and thus firmly. position the lamp tube in place. i

It will be apparent that either one of the tube pins may be engaged with either one of the socket contacts and that whenone pin is engaged and hooked with itseontact, the tube is easily rotated to force back the other contact until it hooks over the second pin. With both contacts hooked, over with a straight pullin fact, in this position, the

tube is firmly interlocked and held against accichamb'ers' I9 at oppo- I dentalshaking loose or intentional removal. By rotating the tube however on one of its Pins orone contact, one edge 20, providing support for the pivot pin Fig. 2, during rotational movement of' the tube and the two edges 20, Fig. 3, providing support to prevent any spreading of the pins.

Fig. 5 illustrates a variation in the construction involving straight shank spring contacts 26,

.26, limited in their inward movementsby engagement against insulating walls 21.

Fig. 6 illustrates another modification, particularly in the form of the central partition or separating wall which has a reduced front portion 28, similar to the first forms with inclined or rounded shoulders 29, to guide the entering pin .outwardly and then straight substantially parallel shoulders 30, to guide and positively locate the pins in their finally and fully seated positions.

A further modification is illustrated in Fig. 7, generally similar to the first form but illustrating the contact springs as backed up onthe inner sides by companion springs 3|, having entry wedge portions lBa, and hook portions Ila, more or less the reverse counterparts oi wedges l9 and hooks l4, to more nearly completely surround the tube pins. 1

In the several forms of the invention shown with application oi iorce, one but not both of the contact hooks will release and this therefore makes it necessary to give the tube a twist or partial rotation about its axis to make one contact let go, after which it is easy to pull the remaining pin clear of the other contact. Similarly to force back both contacts at once, but. easy to force back first one contact and then, using that as a fulcrum to rock the tube and make the other pin force back the other contact, Because oi this rotational engagement and disengagement,

' the contactsprings can be made as heavy and stifi as required to provide the best possible mechanical and electrical connections.

in the Figure 6 forin of construction, the spacing shoulders it, which are opposite the inwardly facing hook portions of the yielding contact's'and the shoulders provided by the edges 20, opposed to the spacing shoulders and substantially corresponding to the outside spacing of the pins, all cooperate to firmly hold the pins'and prevent any accidental loosening orremoval of the supported tube.

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 illustrate a form of the invention requiring that the prongs be entered at an angle, one at a time and positively preventing withdrawal of both pins at once.

the side shoulders which will prevent straight withdrawal of the pins.

Fig. 8 shows how one pin 23, must be entered ahead of the other at an angle such that it will pass in between the shoulder 24 at the outside and the shoulder 35 at the inside. After passage of this first pin behind shoulder 34' into full engagement with the hook I l of spring contact II, where it occupies a position in the seat 33, Fig. 9, the tube may pivot on pin 23 as a fulcrum and in which relation, the second pin 24, will swing in mounting the tube, it is diificult or impossible up behind the other shoulder 34 as in Fig. l0, into fully seated positionwand fully engaged and held by the hook I! of the secondcontact spring l3. In this last position, the shoulders 34 overstand the pins and positively prevent straight or simultaneous removal of the" same and require that the tube first, be rocked to free one pin before the other pin can be released.

While the present practice is to mount lamps and tubes in between a pair of the sockets and to complete the circuit through pins at opposite ends of the tube in engagement with the contacts in the sockets, it is realized that the circuit maybe altered so as to complete the same through the pins at one end only or through only one of the pins at each end of the tube. Under such possible conditions, only one socket may be required for circuit purposes, or only one contact of each of a pair of the sockets be utilized to carry current. The claims covering the invention and the terms employed are therefore to be considered in this light. While in most cases it is desirable to have the pins backed up by solid insulating material in their final position, such as indicated in Figs. 3, 5, 6, 7 and 10, this is not essential, since the hooked portions of the springs hold the pins very firmly.

The entrance cams 18 may be inclined on such slight angles that in, constructions such as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, both pins may be forced in at the same time. thus avoiding any special care in inserting a tube, but the hooks M, at the inner ends of these entrance cams'are so abruptly angled that once both pins are engaged, they will be positively held and can not both be disengaged at the same time and this locking of the tube in place is effective and remains so, no matter in what position the socket may be mounted.

. tacts separated to such an extent that theportionsoi' the contacts nearest to the opposing faces of the intermediate partition H, are spaced away from that partition a distance greater than the diameter of the pins 23, each and either of said pins will thenbe freely insertable into either of the channels at opposite sides of the partition. This particular construction therefore enables a tube to be inserted in a socket without any opposition to entry of the first pin and the tube to be then' rotated after the first pin is entered behind the hook of the first contact and thus caused in such'movement to be grasped by such first contact, to wedge the second pin over the entrance cam l8, of the second contact into firmly held engagement in the grasp of the hook of the second contact. As'shown in Fig. 5, the hook portions of these contacts arefaced inwardly toward the intervening artition 11, so as to clasp only 7 about the outer sides of the contact pins. Hence these contacts, either one of them, will yield to rotational movement of the tube in either direction to permit passage of one pin out of the grasp of one hook and when this is effected, the other" 2,257,786 i g p or said intermediate partition, said contacts bepin will be fully released by the other hook, he'- 7 cause of itsbeing held by the adjacent wall 21,

spaced from the partition II, a distance greater than the diameter of the pin. Thus when one pinof a tube is released, the other pin will be free and the tube will then practically dropout of the socket. or at least be removable without the opposition of a spring contact. Atube may thus be inserted in or withdrawn from a socket of this construction, or irom a pair of such sockets by freely entering one pin or set of pins and then rotating the tube to engage one pin or set of.

- engagement in the open hook ;of either, contact and whereby after such free engagement of either] spaced terminal pins and comprising a socket base of insulating materialhaving. a wide entrance groove through one edge of the same for sub-t stantially simultaneous entry of both terminal pins and defined by opposed substantiallyparal- .lel side walls spaced a distance apart substantially equal to the overall spacing of the terminal pins to admit the entry of both oreither of said pins, an interposed insulating partition between said spaced side walls of said wide em trance groove and having substantially parallel opposite edges opposed to and substantially parallel to said substantially parallel side walls, spring contacts on said base at opposite sides of said intermediate partition and yieldable away from each other, said contacts having open pin receiving hooks and disposed with the open sides 01- said hooks faced inwardly toward and opposed to said substantially parallel opposite edges ing. tensioned' toward each other with said hooks positioned a distance apart less than the overall spacing of. said "terminal pins, said hocks 'hav-, .ing extensions at the free ends ofthe'same inclined outwardly away from said opposing edges of thei ntermediate partition, said free ends i0! said-open hooks being spaced away-from the opposing edges of said intermediate partition a distance greater than the diameter ofthe ter minal pins to enable free passage .of either terminal pin over the inclined extension and into terminal pin in either openho'ok; the lampor tube carrying theterminjal pins may be rotated inwardly toward the socket base about the pin which is engaged in the contact hook as a center to bring the other terminal pin into wedging en'- gagement with the inclined extension of the other contact, toeifect spreading of'the, contacts sut'- ficientl'y for engagement of the second terminal pin in the open hook of. the second, contact and whereby the lamp or tube may be released bysimply, rotating the same in either direction to tree one of the terminal pins from the'openf'hook of one contact, after which thevother-epin will befreeiy-"disengageable from the hook of the other contact, the insulating partition between the con-- tacts being limited inextent toenable said rotary movements or the lamp ortube to carry one ter- 'minal pin into engagement with or tofree it from the hook of one contact while the other terminal pin is pivotally held-inthehook of the other contact. t 

